A years-long wish has come true for officials hoping to raze old buildings at Fairfield Hills. Residents at a town meeting Monday, August 17, approved $5 million in funding, an estimated $4.3 to $4.5 million of which will be used to remediate and raze Canaan House. Predemo work should start in the fall.

Fairfield Hills Authority Chairman Thomas Connors said there is no specific plan for the area where the Canaan House now stands, “although parking and making space for the community center seems like it is where it’s headed.”

Land Use Agency Director George Benson said that as redevelopment takes place in that area, they are also trying to save Plymouth Hall for reuse, “We are trying to continue cleaning up that area, and once [Canaan] is down we’ll figure it out; nothing has been decided at this point.” Demolition at Fairfield Hills is a continuing process, he said.

In the last decade, town officials and Fairfield Hills Authority members have been working to remove many of the larger former state hospital buildings that are roughly 80 years old to either open up space for recreation, or in some cases new construction. Most recently, Danbury Hall came down at the front of the campus near the main entrance. The removal in past years of other old structures has made room for ball fields, and the privately owned NYA Sports & Fitness Center.

First Selectman Pat Llodra also added that there are no specific plans for the Canaan footprint, but she is “very pleased about the progress we are going to make at the campus.” Per the approved funds, she said that Canaan “will be remediated and demolished as will the eight single-family homes and the greenhouse on Keating Farms Road.” One duplex building will be restored “with mostly grant funds,” then leased to the Parent Connection.

Fairfield Hills Authority member Ross Carley had hoped that Kent House would come down first, and said that a past authority vote had prioritized Kent. That building stands between the main soccer field visible at the campus entrance, and the newer baseball diamond on the NYA’s left side. With Kent removed, Mr Carley said, “we could join the two ball fields … we wanted an exhibition field/cantina” to potentially go where Kent is standing on the opposite side of  Newtown Municipal Center from Canaan.

The way he sees it with Canaan coming down is, “We aren’t getting anything for the money.” The authority had voted to raze, in this order, Kent, Shelton House, Canaan House, and then Cochran House, which faces Mile Hill South. Both Cochran and Kent spaces are intended for field use.

Demolition and campus upgrades are accomplished as funds become available.